The present invention relates generally to material handling equipment, and more specifically to equipment for orienting sorted items, such as rail spikes and similar fasteners.
While the present application is intended for use in handling and sorting rail spikes, it is contemplated that the present apparatus is usable in orienting other rail fasteners such as lag bolts, hairpin spikes, Lewis bolts and the like, as well as other items needing repositioning while being conveyed to an operational destination. Currently, rail spikes used in a rail maintenance gang are stored in bulk and delivered in relatively small groups to an operator station by a reciprocating ram, as disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,216,590 which is incorporated by reference. In conventional rail maintenance operations employing the reciprocating ram, a designated operator draws individual spikes from the small group supplied by the ram, manually orients them in proper top-to-bottom and front-to-back position, and inserts them into a feed tray of a rail fastener driver magazine, of the type disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,398,616; 5,465,667 and 7,104,200, all of which are incorporated by reference. Manual loading of such feed trays is a tedious task, which also distracts the attention of the operator who is also controlling the spike driving operation. When two operators are provided, one to load the spike tray and one to control the spike driving mechanism, there is additional labor cost to the railroad for performing the spiking operation.
There is a continuing motivation by railroads to reduce the required labor of rail maintenance operations. Accordingly, maintenance machinery manufacturers have attempted to automate tasks where possible.